House lawmakers want to end Selective Service

The Selective Service has been back in the news this year
after the Pentagon ended the ban on women serving in combat positions.

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The move opened the possibility that women might also have
to register with the Selective Service, which is still to be determined.

In announcing the end of the ban on women in combat in
January, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that the agency would have
to determine whether to require women to register.

“I don't know who the hell controls Selective Service, if
you want to know the truth,” Panetta said. “But, you know, whoever does,
they're going to have to exercise some judgment based on what we just did.”

Other lawmakers have gone in the opposite direction. Rep.
Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who has long called for a re-instatement of the draft,
pushed a plan to require women
to register for the draft, too, after the combat ban was lifted.

The legislation from DeFazio and Coffman would allow the
president to reinstate the Selective Service with an executive order.